A child is reported missing every 40 seconds in the United States according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 1 in every 42 children will become missing, abducted, lost or runaway. Each day 2000 children are reported missing and 725,000 go missing in a year. There are now 4.5 million people having Alzheimer's disease now, with numbers increasing to 11 to 15 million by 2020. Approximately 60% of Alzheimer's patients will wander at some point, and need to be returned to a guardian.
Hence, improved methods and apparatus allowing reliable identification of a subject are urgently needed. Collection of DNA samples can be helpful, but this does not allow rapid identification of a subject without sophisticated equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,970 to Turner describes a personal identification system, but fails to disclose the collection of dental records or video information.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,856,102 to Bierke-Nelson et al. describes home storage of DNA samples, but also fails to describe dental characterization or video information.